November Nightmare
by Vagari
Summary: Sibling Love at one of its finest moments. Leonardo helps Raphael deal with a bout of Hypnagogia. -Contains Turtle Tots- Warnings: Course language, medical/sleep condition (Hypnagogia), violence, horror and children subjected to a psychologically unsettling scenario. Be warned, oh ye of the squeamish types.


_I don't own TMNT, but they own me!_

_~Sibling Love at one of its finest moments. Leonardo helps Raphael deal with a bout of Hypnagogia.~  
_

**November Nightmare**

* * *

The moment he woke up, it was dark. Too dark. Small arms with strong, lean muscles flailed about, trying to push the darkness, and whatever may dwell within it, away from his face. He was sweating bullets, and it was icy cold. He must have made noises, he was certainly screaming inside his head at least, but there were no sounds save the muffled FLUMP of shifting blankets. Had he truly died? Was he in hell? He paused, swallowed away the dry fear sticking to his tongue, and slowly, cautiously, withdrew his arms from the endless depths that engulfed him. Wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug and curling into himself, he squeezed his eyes shut to, ironically, make the darkness go way.

The freezing air assaulted his warm skin as it chilled the layers of sweat covering his body, biting his temperature-sensitive reptilian flesh. He drew his knees up then cursed, catching the noise in his throat before he could give away his position, realizing he must have somehow pissed himself by no small amount. His lower half was warm and wet and wrapped entangled in thick wet fabric, and the edges of that warmth were chilling rapidly.

Ashamed and embarrassed, Raphael was too afraid to dare move from his spot and thought being warm covered in pee was better than freezing while trying to gather his bearings. Not to mention hiding under the filthy blanket felt far safer than flinging it away and exposing himself from his piss-soaked force shield, as if it offered any protection at all from monsters. He burned red at his own cowardice, but all he could think about was falling into the gaping maw of spiky teeth, all he could see was darkness, all he could feel was the unsettling wet dynamic of warmth and ice, all he could imagine was broken-nailed, long, gnarled fingers of mangled pink slimy flesh dragging him by his feet to his doom.

The 8-year-old sat in silent panic gripped in fear for a few minutes until his Ninja training kicked in on its own automatically to battle the nightmare dominating his confused coherency. Since he couldn't see, he tried to hear. There were no sounds except the swift fluid thumping in his ears of his own heart slamming behind his ribs, trying to break free from the bony prison. It took what felt like ages for him to calm down enough for his brain to accept the slowly sinking fact that he was, indeed, in his own room, on the upper bunk.

But what about below him? Were his Brothers safe? Or were they... 'gulp'... _eaten_...? His mind squeaked out the last word like a mouse had spoken. He envisioned a wailing Mikey, dangling helplessly by his ankle and crying HUGE terrified tears as Donnie, wide-eyed and frightened, scrambled for his Bo when an ugly hand descended and clenched, puncturing his face and his EYE! The gruesome hand dragged a horrified little turtletot across the floor, throaty moans of escalating dread escaped Donatello as his fingers frantically snatched empty air instead of the receding Bo over and over, straight back towards the monster...

God what was that... that... _thing_... and... and... Mikey and Donnie's _faces_! Leonardo must have already been eaten or he would have been there! He would have _been there_, Katana in hand, rolling around and slicing off rotting limbs to save his Brothers. He musta' been eaten... he was already dea-... He heard his baby Brothers' excruciating screams of ultimate agony and horror clearly in his mind, real as the darkness swallowing him, and twitched, whimpering angrily.

His young mind furiously calculated the dangers of calling out. He desperately wanted his Father, but the old rat was too far away to hear him unless he shouted, and what if he didn't hear him? What if only the monster heard him? What if the monster got him before Splinter could make it to the room? Why didn't Splinter come get him already, did the monster already eat him too?!

Raphael shook his head with a firm violence, body still curled and eyes still squeezed shut, unwilling to accept that as a possibility. No, no... he was safe... Splinter was safe for as long as he kept in his own room. The monster couldn't find him in there, because monsters are stupid and don't know how to get past force shields like pee-blankets and closed doors, even flimsy rice-paper doors. They're just vicious and incredibly lucky, which is how they get their victims a lot of times... but they were safe as long as they stayed hidden.

Somehow, it finally occurred to Raphael that he may have been dreaming, and was now awake. But he wasn't sure, and he couldn't _be_ sure until he heard his older Brother's voice. For several long minutes, the emerald-skinned child repeated a mantra in his head.

"Bad dream, s'only a bad dream, call for Leo, Leo will know what to do. Be brave, the two of us can take him! Gotta protect Mikey, Splinter and Donnie... Bad dream, s'only a bad dream, call for Leo, Leo will know what to do. Be brave, the two of us can take him! Gotta protect Mikey, Splinter and Donnie... Bad dream, s'only a bad dream, call for Leo, Leo will know what to do. Be brave, the two of us can take him! Gotta protect Mikey, Splinter, and Donnie... Bad dream, s'only a bad dream..."

After collecting his racing heart, regaining SOME sort of control over his breathing, and finding where his vocal cords disappeared to, Raphael worked his tongue muscles until they remembered how to form his Brother's name. Gathering his courage and bracing for an attack, he pushed the name out of his mouth in a husky voice...

"Leo!" The name smashed through the darkness like a clumsy fist.

Raphael stiffened like stone as he waited for the impending attack or more favorably, an answer from below. He heard the swish of heavy fabric from his Brother's bed, felt the bunk shake, then a thump when a small jade green hand appeared and clasped the bar along the ladder, followed by the bald head of his Brother Leonardo the Fearless. Raphael felt he could cry, if he weren't so stunned and relieved. Besides, crying was for sissies. But so was wetting the bed. Fuck...

Leonardo rubbed his silvery gray eye sleepily as he watched his twin's face shift from frozen fear to an almost-smile wide with relief, and... were those... were those freekin' _tears_ wobbling in his golden eyes!? Sheesh!

"S'matter, Bro?" the little Leader mumbled quietly, his words blurring together as he attempted to focus his weary mind. "Y'okay? Didja have a bad dream?"

Red was a great color for Raphael, and it suited him perfectly. It was a tough color. An angry color. The color of Conquerors, of blood and violence and rage and... heart-bound promises, love, passion and deepest emotional sensitivity. Seeing his jade twin's tired face and hearing his for-once non-condescending voice nearly choked the usually sulky emerald turtle with happiness. The monster wasn't real and it wasn't here, his Brothers weren't eaten, Splinter was safe and alive... they were all alive! He was too elated to care, and still solidly half-out of it from sleep and fear.

He swallowed the stun away and replied with a single purposeful nod and his own soft, slightly shaky voice.

"Mhm... I... I-I think I peed, Leo..." _what should I do?_ His face implored. To Leonardo, his brother was clearly in some kind of shock and couldn't think properly. He wasn't behaving like himself, even if he did seem wide awake. Hearing Raphael admit to wetting the bed was all he had to hear.

"S'okay, Raphie. C'mon."

Two slender turtle children filed down the ladder, trying to ignore the bitter cold. Raphael thought in a haze that if there were light, they would see their breath puffing little clouds in the air.

"Bet we could see our breath..." he whispered. He was swaying on his feet. Leonardo reached out through the pitch and held his little Brother's warm hand tenderly, giving it an assuring squeeze before taking the lead and guiding him off in the direction to the bathroom. The patter-patter of feet that were neither little or big tapped lightly against the smooth concrete.

The door was already open, so small chunky fingers reached up to find the switch with practiced ease and flicked the tiny lever. Blinding yellow light flooded the cold, hard room. They blinked against the pain stinging inside their temples until they could see through squinted eyes. Leonardo pulled a stumbling Raphael forward, never letting go of his hand as he turned the knobs and adjusted the temperature of water gushing from the faucet. He let the water run into a shallow bath before silencing the flow with another twist.

"Get in." He ordered, nodding to the bath as he gathered soap and towels with his free hand. When Raphael didn't move, Leonardo gave him a quizzical look. Raphael had a distance in his fiercely golden eyes, and was staring up into the light, swaying and tipping gently, but not so much as to lose any kind of balance. He tugged his emerald Brother's hand increasingly until there was just enough pull to encourage his dazed twin to look down and partially join him in reality. Raphael grinned lazily at the sight of the water, then complained.

"S'gonna be cold when I get out, Leo."

"It's already cold. You'll be nice and warm in the water, then we'll get you cleaned and covered up."

Raphael didn't let go of Leonardo's hand as he stepped into the large Rubbermaid container that was their makeshift bath, and even then he didn't ease his grip once he sat. Leonardo relented to using just one hand. He tossed a soapy cloth at his little Brother's legs. It hit the water and soaked. Raphael stared at its general direction and waved his feet in the water, tapping the sides of his two main toes together as the water pleasantly swished and swirled.

"Wash." came the concerned command.

Raphael mechanically swooshed up the dripping cloth and began to run the sudsy fibers over his dark, gleaming scales and plastron. Leonardo sighed tiredly and wiped salty sweat and tears from Raphael's face, neck and scalp with another soapy cloth, then helped his consciously remote sibling scrub his carapace. All clean, Leo opened the drain and dumped cups of warm rinse water on Raphael from head to toe, a thin smile forming at the sight of the tightly scrunched face blowing water from a rounded snout, then faded when Raphael lost his balance and tilted sideways, having nearly fallen asleep again while being bathed in comfortably warm water.

"Wake up, doofus. This isn't a bed." Leonardo tried to inject some humor into the situation.

"My bed's wet anyways..." slurred the words from a cheek squished against the bath wall. Raphael didn't even open his eyes. The little Leader pulled his Brother to sit upright and shook his arm by his hand.

"C'mon, wake up! You can sleep in just a minute."

A shiny bald head lolled then lifted. Raphael forced all the muscles in his entire forehead up just to crack open his eyes. It was almost painful to watch, if it wasn't disturbing and slightly funny to Leonardo.

One end of a towel dangled in front of Raphael's vision, the corner tickling the edge of his snout as it waved up and down. He slapped at the impudent thing, then managed to grab it and let his head fall back again as he semi-rested while drying his limbs and front with his end of the towel. The thing came alive and snaked around his carapace on its own until it was all dry. He was puzzled until he figured out that... Oh... Leo did that...

The next thing Raphael remembered was standing back in front of the bunks, looking up in confused dismay.

"Gonna take hours to wash all the bedding..." he groaned, sliding his hand down his face. The lump before him had shifted all the way to the wall and was holding aloft a large flap of blanket. The reply from the lump held no aggravation, accusation, ridicule or pity. Just carefully controlled concern and closely guarded affection.

"Come, get in. You can sleep with me, the air is too cold anyway and our body heat will keep us warmer together. Father will help you take care of it in the morning. He won't be mad, and the others _won't_ find out." Leonardo's soothing voice promised from the darkness. Raphael hadn't even considered any of it, nor did he care at that particular moment, but upon hearing the statements, he could only feel assured momentarily before the entire problem slipped from his clouded mind.

Emerald and Jade bodies huddled against the icy blackness as the two Brothers squirmed and vied for comfortable positions. Leonardo rolled his eyes and cut loose a frustrated sigh (which had been quickly tempered with forgiving patience) when a fist came out of nowhere and clocked him square in the jaw; the result of an oblivious Raphael ducking well under the blanket and tugging it over his head to completely escape the chill. As much as he wanted to call out the foul and add a snark 'You sure the tank's empty?', he withheld.

Leonardo knew they had all wet the bed when they were very, very small, but he couldn't even remember the last time Raphael had done so back then, unlike himself, Mikey and Donnie. Plus he knew Raphael often dreamed, apparently he dreamed crazy too because of the things he would mumble in his sleep. Indeed he had some nasty nightmares on very rare but consistent occasion... He'd get scared, "accidentally" leave the bathroom light on for days or weeks after, snarling in denial and calling Michelangelo a baby because he couldn't fall asleep without the light, period. But nothing had ever made him piss himself or put him in a daze like that. Must have been real bad...

They cuddled together, with Leonardo wrapping his arms around his younger Brother protectively and Raphael the Octopus officially using Leonardo as a body pillow, thoughtlessly sacrificing his older Brother's comfort for his own. The normally moody and aloof younger sibling allowed a small secret smile as he felt a chin meld to the curve of his skull in a sort of fond embrace. He nuzzled his cheek gratefully on his older sibling's shoulder and made his dangled and draped limbs enclose his temporary cuddle buddy a bit more snugly.

Fearless had chased away the monster.

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_Based on a True Story_


End file.
